Kimberley's Kyusu

Hey there Teacups.. Happy Matcha Monday! I’m back today with another Let’s Talk Tea review and this time around I’m going to be reviewing Twist Tea’s – Peppermint Matcha. when it comes to flavoured matcha tea companies either get it really right or really wrong. Some are overly flavoured and some aren’t flavoured enough so there are only a few flavoured matchas out there that I love and with this one having mint in it I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy this one. As I’m sure you all know mint triggers my migraines so I often times stay clear of mint heavy tea blends and matchas, so when it came time for me to do a tasting session with this particular matcha I was definitely worried that I was going to end up putting myself in pain but luckily that wasn’t the case this time around.

Here’s what Twist Teas themselves have to say about this matcha over on their website: ”Matcha do about something. Made with premium grade Japanese leaves, our matcha contains a host of supernutrients said to help drinkers antioxidise, energise, concentrate, rejuvenate, stay calm and lose weight (as part of a balanced diet). It tastes great too!”

Ingredients: Japanese Matcha Green Tea (60%), Peppermint (20%), Maca, Natural Flavouring

Tea Tasting Notes

So as I mentioned earlier in this post peppermint / mint in general normally triggers my migraines when too much of it is used, but luckily this matcha is pretty well balanced and only 20% of it is mint which means the mint note is actually much more subtle that I thought it was going to be, meaning that I was able to enjoy something somewhat minty again for the first time in a long time. When dry the mint note was very subtle and I could only pick out a hit of it but as soon as I added the water that soon changed and the mint fragrance became much more noticeable which I’ll be honest did worry me a little bit until I took my first sip and found out that it wasn’t that strong at all. The mint is definitely there but it’s not overpowering and it doesn’t overpower the matcha. I’ve never tried a mint matcha that has been as balanced as this and it was such a pleasure to drink. I was a tiny little bit put off by the darker green colour of the matcha before I added in the water because I’m used to a much more vibrant matcha and know that often times matchas with a darker colour can be of a lesser quality and that did worry me a little but the only thing I seemed to notice that this matcha was missing in terms of it quality was that its vegetal notes tasted less fresh and there was a tiny but more astringency to it than I would have liked but that’s nothing that half a teaspoon of honey can’t fix.

For this tasting session I tried this matcha a few ways, I tried it hot (on its own), iced on its own and then as a hot latte (with honey and milk). I really did want to try this as an iced latte as well but I just haven’t had the chance yet, however I do still have some of this matcha left so I’ll definitely try it as an iced latte as soon as I can and I’ll post my opinions over on Instagram. It held a good-ish froth in my matcha bowl but that quickly dissipated when I moved it too my glass. This could be down to the added ingredients though as I find a lot of flavoured matchas don’t froth well.

On it’s own hot this is very much all matcha with just the slightest hint of mint in the aftertaste, I’d prefer a bit more balance there but it was still quite smooth and its vegetal notes were strong but not off putting, it leans much more of the savoury side than a few matchas I’ve tired and lacks that sweet hay like note that I love in matcha (though I’m not sure if that would have worked well with the mint). There was a slight astringency too it but it wasn’t off putting and adding in the honey really softened that. On it’s own iced this is very refreshing, the vegetal notes are a little more subdued and the mint was able to come through a little more I can see it working well with still lemonade or pineapple juice this way. I definitely prefer it iced on its own than I do hot.

 I wasn’t sure how well this would work as a latte as the other mint matchas I have tried really didn’t work as a hot latte as the mint was too strong and it didn’t work when hot at all. But for some reason this one seemed to work really well as a latte. The addition of the milk and the honey made the vegetal notes a little more well rounded and the mint, while still subtle, was able to come through quite nicely especially in the aftertaste. It almost tasted like mint iced cream so I can imagine that this matcha as an iced latte would be phenomenal. The sweet and creamy notes that I thought this matcha was missing on its own were easily to replicated with the addition of both the milk and honey meaning this tasted much more well balanced.

All in all I definitely enjoyed this matcha and just how many different things I could do with it in terms of experimenting with different recipes going forward. Would I have liked it to be a little more balanced on its own? Yes of course, but with a little bit of work I was able to find a way to make it work for me. This is probably the most well balanced mint matcha I’ve ever had and like I said at the start of my tasting notes it was really nice to be able to enjoy something minty again without it causing a migraine so I would definitely consider re-purchasing this.

Overall Teacup Rating: 4.8/5

If you want to find out more about Twist Tea or purchase some of this matcha for yourself, you can do both here . As always if you have any questions at all either stick them in the comments or send them to me on Twitter/Instagram @teaisawishblog and I’ll answer them all as soon as I can.

Speak to you all again soon. Happy Steeping – Kimberley

*The tea featured in the post was gifted to me for the purpose of this review. all opinions are my own and have not been paid for*